Apparatus and art for handling coal and the like



E. C. WASHBURN..

APPARATUS AND ART FOR HANDLING COAL AND THE-LIKE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 18. 1918.

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APPARATUS AND ART FOR HANDLING COAL AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 18 19H 1,347,000. Patented July 20,1920.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN C. WASHBURN, 0F ENGLEWOOD, NEVI JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO ROBERT S. BLAIR, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

V APPARATUS AND.ART HANDLING COAL AND THE LIKE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN C. WASHBURN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Englewood, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have' invented an Improvement in'Apparatus and Art for Handling Coal and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This inventionrelates' to the handling and more particularly to the thawing of coal and the like. One of theobjects thereof is to provide simple and efficient means for the handling of coal, and particularly coal in frozen condition. Another object is to provide apparatus of the above type which shall be rapid in action and economical of heat. Another object is 'to provide a practical and convenient art'for handling frozen coal and the like. Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter. I a 4 l The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, arrangement of parts and in the several steps and relation and order of certain of the same, all as'exemplified in the apparatus and art hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of various possible embodiparts shown in Fig. 1',the scale'bcinglarger and certain of the'parts being broken away;

Fig.4 is an enlarged cross-section along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; and i i Fig. 5 is a similar yiew along the line' 5'-5 of Fig. 1. 1

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the severahai vofthe drawing, 1 v a R ferring now to 'Fig. 2 of the drawings, there is showln a railway track which may at theinitial or 'fwha t'maybe-termed ingoing position 1'0, be substantially at the level of the ground11. At this point itv en- 'tersa tunnel which is continued through out the'le'ngthofthe "apparatus.

From the point 10 the tunnel inclines downwardly as at 12 and thence upwardly as at 13 to the central portion 14. 'Continu Specification of Letters Patent.

space therebetween.

Patented July 20, 1920.

Application filed July 18, 1918. Serial No. 245.577.

ing in the same direction the tunnel again inclines downwardly at 15 and thence upwardly at 16 from which point it may return above the level of the ground. The exit end is preferably materially lower than the entrance end, and it will thusbe seen that upon cars beingmoved through, coupled in trains, no power will be required to move them at the desired slow rate. The depressions 17 and 18 mark the limits of a relatively elevated chamber of such nature that heated air therein will remain in position and not tend to travel by convection to the outer atmosphere. For this purpose in so far as the broader aspects of certain features of this invention are concerned, it is necessary only that there be provided a chamber to which access may be had by track and from which, due toits upwardly inclined approach, the heated air will not tend to pass. Accordingly the term tunnel is used in a broad-sense to cover any equiva lent structure.

The above track, 19,v may be branched within the central chamber to provide one or 'more side tracks 20 with greater accommodation of cars.

The entire trackis preferably housed by walls of low heat. conductivity, the construction of which will later be described in detail.

. Positioned at any suitable point but preferably beneath the portion 14 of the tunnel,

are one or more suitable sources of heat 21 here shown as steam bollers. The track at this point is open to permit the heat from the boiler room 22 to pass directly into the chamber above. Also the steam from the boilers is led through pipes which may lie longitudinally between the rails along the tracks as indicated at 23 in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawing.

At the central portion, the walls mounted on suitable piers 24 comprise an outer portion'25 and inner portions 26 both formed space 27 between the walls may be connected to the up-takes 28 fromthe furnaces and disstacks 29 at the roof of the 7 If desired, at suitable points in the walls, windows 32 may be provided preferably of of reinforced concrete or like material. The

the double sash type to economize heat, it being understood that the frames of these windows extend entirely through the spaces 27 to exclude the furnace gases from the glass.

In the use of the above apparatus, the cars containing coal or the like, the contents of which are in frozen condition, are drawn or pushed into the tunnel as at 10 and they may travel at a slow rate throughout the length of the tunnel, or, if desired, may be intermittently stopped in order to permit more thorough thawing of their contents. The grades being balanced or their total effect being downward, a continuous train of cars may be moved through the tunnel with little or no effort. from the tunnel as at 33 they arepreferably immediately run over coal pockets and the contents dumped, although if desired they may be dumped before they emerge from the tunnel by the provision of suitable pockets beneath the track. Any cars requiring an extra thawing treatment may be sidetracked on the branch track 20 and left as long asis necessary to bring about the desired result. v I11 the action of the above apparatus it will be seen that no vexpensive structure is required and that the use of the heat is extremely economical. The heated air in which the cars are thawed is not withdrawn by the passage of cars therethrough and the only heat utilized is that actually employed in thawing coal. Furthermore, this is accomplished without the use of gates, thus simplifying and cheapening the apparatus and avoiding loss on the opening of such parts.

Also any heated air which may escape is compelled by the tunnel to travel along the cars, thus warming them up prior to thawing or aiding in keeping them in properly thawed condition. The heat developed in the boilers is utilized not only by the steam action but even that which would .over, as hereinbefore noted, is preferably carried on continuously, the cars being connected in longtrains or, if desired, added car by car to the moving train within the tunnel as .cars are removed from the exit end. a

It willthus'be seen that there is provided apparatus and an art in which the several lVhen the cars emerge objects of this invention are achieved and that the same are well adapted to meet the hardest requirements of practical use.

As the mechanical features of this invention might be embodied in apparatus which would be apparently radically different and as the art might be carried on by means of different apparatus, it is to be understood that all features herein described or shown in the accompanying drawing are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limit ing sense.

I claim as my invention:

1. In thawing apparatus for coal and the like, in combination, a track portion, means inclosing the space about said track portion and adapted to retain heated air therein by its buoyancy, means adapted to heat said space, and a track portion inclined. downwardly under said inclosing means and thence inclined upwardly to join said first track portion.

2. In thawing apparatus for coal and the like, in combination, a track having an upper portion and downwardly inclined portions leading to and from the same, airretaining means inclosing said track substantially down to the level of its upper portion and retaining the heated air there in by its buoyancy, and means adapted to heat the space so inclosed.

3. In thawing appartaus for coal and the like,in combination, a track section adapted to support a railway car, airretaining means inclosing said track section substantially down to the level of the track, means adapted to heat the space thus inclosed, and means adapted to lead a carupwardly into and downwardly out of said space, said space being free from connections tending to force fluid thereinto or draw fluid therefrom.

4. In thawing apparatus for coal and the like, in combination, a track having a relatively raised portion and an inclined portion and provided with a branch track at said upper portion, means extending clownwardly over said inclined portion adapted to inclose the raised portion of said track and retain heated air by its buoyancy in the space about the upper portion thereof, and

Wardly inclined portion and a raised portion to which said first portion extends, a

double-walled inclosure for the raised portion of said track extending downwardly over said inclined portion and adapted to retain heated air by its buoyancy in the space about the raised portion thereof, and means adapted to heat the space Within said inclosure. i v V 6. The art ofcondit'ioning coal for handling, which consists in heating air confined by its buoyancy within a tunnel inclined downwardly toward each of its open ends and having tracks extending along the same, and moving railway cars laden with coal in frozen condition along the tracks through the confined air and retaining them therein until thawed.

7. The art of conditioning coal for handling, which consists in heating air confined by its buoyancy within a tunnel inclined downwardly toward an open end and having tracks extending along the same, and moving railway cars laden with coal in frozen condition along the tracks through the confined air and retaining them therein until thawed.

8. The art of conditioning coal for handling, which consists in heating air confined by its buoyancy within a tunnel inclined downwardly and thence upwardly toward an open end and having tracks extending along the same, and moving railway cars laden with coal in frozen condition along the tracks downwardly and thence upwardly into said confined air and retaining them therein until thawed.

9. In thawing apparatus for coal and the like, in combination, a track section adapted to support a railway car, air-retaining means inclosing said section substantially down to the level of the track, heat-generating means positioned below the space thus inclosed, means adapted to lead heat into said space from said heat-generating means, and means adapted to lead a car under said air-retaining means first upwardly into and thereafter downwardly out of said space.

10. In thawing apparatus for coal and the like, in combination, a track section adapted to support a railway car, airretaining means of heat-insulating constitution inclosing said track section substantially down to the level of the track and retaining the heated air therein against escape in a downward direction by its buoyancy, means adapted to heat the space thus inclosed, and an upwardly inclined track leading under said air-retaining means and into said space.

11. In thawing apparatus for coal and the like, in combination, a track section adapted to support a railway car, a track section leading thereto in an upwardly inclined direction, a track section leading therefrom in a downwardly inclined direction, means of heat-insulating constitution inclosing said first track section substantially down to the level thereof and thereby extending over said second and third track sections, means adapted to heat the air within said inclosing means, said heated air be: ing confined substantially against escape by its buoyancy within said inclosing means, and a railway track leading to said first section and from said third section whereby trains may be continuously run through said inclosed space.

12. In thawing apparatus for coal and the like, in combination, means forming a substantially tight chamber adapted to retain heated air, means adapted to heat said chamber, and means forming an upwardly directed passage inclosed at the top, bottom and sides and leading into said chamber and adapted to transmit railway cars thereinto.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification this 11th day of July, 1918.

EDWIN C. WASHBURN. 

